This book covers the development of the 'F' variants of the most famous German WW2 fighter, the Messerschmitt Bf 109. Design, development, testing the prototypes and series production are all described and illustrated, covering all variants of the -F model of this iconic warplane.

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 F is not a neglected version of this famous German fighter. The Friedrich's good looks, superb combat record and wide variety of camouflage schemes have long made it a favourite of aircraft historians and modellers, which is reflected in the range of literature and kits available. Undaunted by this wealth of material, Mushroom Model Publications has chosen the Bf 109 F as the subject of its latest Yellow Series book, and done Luftwaffe modellers a service in the process.

Author Robert Michulec has followed the established Yellow Series structure, beginning with a technical and development history of the Bf 109 F before moving on to more detailed camouflage, marking and walk-around analysis. Specific areas covered are:

Messerschmitt's research, development and test programs that led to the start of Bf 109 F series production in 1940. These aspects are covered in a series of short chapters entitled 'Early Stages', 'Two Programmes', 'Armament' and 'Bf 109 F-0', which describe the challenges in developing this more refined version of the Bf 109. Michulec's text is backed up with a selection of black-and-white period photographs of the Friedrich prototypes that will be of great use to anyone who is interested in modelling these early examples.

Bf 109 F variants, series production, and modifications. These 30-plus pages will ensure you know your Bf 109 F-4/Z/trop from your Bf 109 F-6/U1. Again, the text is heavily reinforced with illustrations: period photos, 3D renderings, 1/48 scale plans and scrap drawings. The highlight is a 58 cm full colour fold out of Bf 109 F-2 'Black Double Chevron and Bar' flown by Hptm. Dietrich Hrabak, II./JG 54, summer 1941. This is easily the most thorough treatment I've seen of the various Bf 109 F subtypes, and it's aimed at modellers who want to get their details right. Even if all of the information you want on a specific variant isn't here, there should be enough material to point you in the direction necessary to complete your research.
Bf 109 F research programs. This short but fascinating chapter looks at Friedrich test beds, which were used to evaluate a variety of innovations from air-to-air rockets to ski landing gear to the proposed Me 309 undercarriage layout.
Production numbers, technical description and specifications. Three useful nuts-and-bolts chapters that list Bf 109 F W.Nr. serial blocks, describe the main airframe components and provide comparative performance data for the Bf 109 E-4, Bf 109 F-2, Bf 109 F-4/trop, and Bf 109 G-2.

Unsurprisingly most of the aircraft depicted are in Luftwaffe colours, with a smattering of captured Friedrichs and one Hungarian F-4. Most of the illustrations are port or starboard profiles, but there are also half-a-dozen overhead and undersurface views. Two of the profiles (the Hungarian machine and an F-4 in USAAF colours) are also supported by period photographs.

Detail photos. This extensive walk around takes up 50 of the book's total of 128 pages, and uses a combination of technical drawings and wartime and contemporary photos to cover the following areas:

General view

Fuselage

Engine

Wing

Canopy

Cockpit

Tail

Undercarriage, and

Armament.

If you're embarking on a Bf 109 F modelling project, these will be close to all of the detail photos you'll need. I like the mixture of contemporary and period images, because while the latter are usually clearer than wartime photos, they are invariably of restored airframes that aren't always true to the original aircraft. This is where the period photos and technical drawings come in, allowing you to cross-reference as necessary and draw your own conclusions.

As is the norm with Yellow Series books, the C5 format is big enough to allow decent image quality and a font that's large enough to read, but compact enough to sit on the corner of your workbench without taking up too much space. The author's writing style is highly readable, and MMP's production quality is up to its usual high standards with no typos or other errors noted.

Conclusion

This book proves the maxim that you can never have too many publications on the Bf 109. I recommend it highly to anyone contemplating a Bf 109 F build, or who is interested in understanding how this arguably definitive Bf 109 evolved and what made it tick.

Ofh Nachrichten 2/14  2014-07-03

IPMS USA website  2014-07-03

Mushroom Model Publications has released the latest installment of their Yellow Series titled

Messerschmitt Bf 109F. Like all the other books in the series, it is printed in glossy paper and lavishly illustrated with period b&w photographs, color profiles, and color pictures of restored aircraft.

Also of note is also the fact they have included 3D computer-generated images of different parts of the airplane (nose, control stick, etc.).

In addition to the above, there are 1/48 scale plans of all the main Bf-109F variants, plus a 620mm fold-out (2-feet) color profile of a Bf-109. I wish I could frame it!

The main sections of the book include: early stages, armament, prototype (Bf-109F-0), main variants (F-1 to F-4), production series, modifications (/Trop, reconnaissance, etc.), final variants (the rare F-5 to F-8 marks), research programs, etc.

The book has 30 full-color profile (some of them are 4-view), plus a full-color walk-around series broken down by fuselage, engine, wing, canopy, cockpit, tail, undercarriage, and armament. The walk-around also include drawings from the airplane technical manuals.

MMP books has a YouTube channel, and it has kindly uploaded a preview video – with all the pages – at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlvXStI7Aec.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to modelers and aviation aficionados.

I would like to thank Mushroom Model Publications and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

The 'F' or 'Friedrich' variant of the celebrated Messerschmitt fighter entered serice with Kanalgeschwader JG 2 during March 1941 and presented a number of enhancements over the successive improvements introduced to the venerable "Emil" with which the Jagdwaffe had gone to war over Poland. The basic Bf 109 airframe had undergone a redesign with the aim of improving aerodynamic efficiency especially in the area of the wing and tailplane. Both spinner and wingtips were rounded and more streamlined and the Emil's horizontal stabilizer brace supports had been eliminated. In addition the tail wheel was now fully retractable. However the Friedrich did not feature wing armament and weight of fire was thus reduced in comparison to the older sub-type. There were also some structural issues with early examples, a number of pilots being lost after tearing the wings off in high 'G' manoeuvres. The most notable loss was JG 2 Kommodore Wilhelm Balthasar on 3 July 1941. Despite this, the first Bf 109 F-2s in service on the Channel Front gave the RAF a pretty hard time. On 23 July 1941, two Circuses were mounted for actual losses of 15 Spitfires and a single Hurricane shot down - the "Richthofen" claimed no less than fourteen Spitfires during Circus No. 59 (from 13:14 to 13:30) and fourteen more (plus a Hurricane ) during Circus N ° 60 (from 20:55 to 20:20)! This new work from Mushroom looks at the Friedrich in detail and features some very nice profile artwork, handbook drawings, museum walk-arounds and some interesting text in a handy A-5 format. If you are a well-read enthusiast then you may have seen much of it before but it is nonetheless hard to resist when it is this well done and, in this easy-to-read format, great for the morning commute. Recommended - and please hurry up with the Hs 123 book, Roger!

speedreaders.info  2014-07-03

“Due to separate research programmes conducted in parallel by Messerschmitt AG, the entire process of developing the Bf 109F should be seen as being divided into two main projects.”

The 109 model run literally goes from “A” to “Z” (for Zwilling, or twin, for its two fuselages joined by a wing) and within each model has numerous submodels. The “F” experimented with different wing shapes and introduced a long list of aerodynamic improvements, significantly improving range by a third compared to the “E”. After fixing the handling problems common to early Fs it was considered the best-handling in the 109 series.

Unlike the P-38 Lightning book it follows in this publisher’s Yellow Series, the Bf 109 book is in the more common smaller A5 format and a softcover. It too contains a “poster” but in this case it is a foldout sheet of four panels (almost 2 ft long) bound into the book. The only thing that will stop you from wanting to tear it out and pin it to the wall is that the sumptuous hyper-realistic (the emblems have actually “dirt” on them) full-color profile view on the one side has b/w 1/48 top and bottom views and a color cockpit drawing on the back.

The Bf109 is as popular a model kit as it was in real life. Numerous versions in all scales exist, even RC models. They all can be improved with the detail found in this as in all other MMP books which are specifically aimed at the modeler (unlike, say, Osprey books which go quite a bit deeper into historical aspects). This little book dispenses a commendable amount of background and context in regard to the Bf 109 overall and the F model in particular. Technical specs and modifications take precedence over operational commentary. Over 25 pages are devoted to 1/48 scale color drawings (left and/or right side, side top/bottom views) and concentrate on detailed descriptions of markings and paint schemes. About a third of the book consists of a guided tour of the aircraft in the form of tech art and photos, both period factory and in-service shots and modern imagery of museum aircraft. From exploded views of the tail wheel to the inner workings of canopy latches, it’s all here. Until you study books like this you just don’t realize how much kit makers get wrong or how much you yourself are overlooking when you “read” a photo. The photo captions here have such forensic depth that you’ll be forced to spend extra time trying to find the things the captions tell you are there! Example: “The standard oil cooler can be seen to advantage (suggesting the F-4/trop and not the F-4/Z/trop) . . .” Obvious once someone points it out . . . All MMP books are distinguished by such micro detail which makes them—for the people that need it—pretty much essential reading. Besides, they’re cheap enough to just buy and savor on a slow afternoon for no particular reason.

Copyright 2013, Sabu Advani (speedreaders.info).

Model Aircraft September 2013  2014-07-03

Amazon.com customer review (1st)  2014-07-03

Scaleplasticandrail.com  2014-07-03

This is the second of Mushroom Model Publications' Yellow Series books I have looked at, the previous covering one of Messerschmitt's lesser known aircraft, the Bf108 Taifun. The same cannot be said for the Bf109 - arguably the most famous aircraft ever, and I say this as a confirmed lover of the Spitfire. This book is in the same format as the Taifun volume, but looks at just one variant of the 109, the F or 'Friedrich' as it is commonly known. It is 128 pages long, and covers the Bf109 F from development, prototypes, production and experimental airframes. It contains numerous colour and black and white photographs - the former largely museum walkarounds; scale plans, technical drawings and colour profiles.

Although the Table of Contents would indicate numerous sub-sections, I think the book can be looked at in three main parts: development and production; colour profiles; and walkaround. The first section provides the briefest of backgrounds and looks at the Bf109 E or 'Emil'. We then quickly look at initial development and prototypes, which includes W.Nr. (serial) and Stammkenzeichen (four letter aircraft code) where know. There is a particularly interesting section showing the various supercharger intakes that were toyed with on the Versuchs (prototype) airframes, before a production standard was agreed upon. We then look at the main variants such as F-0, F-1, F-2 and F-4, along with the Trop and 'z' versions. Included here are plans in 1/48 a large colour profile in pull-out format. The Friedrich upper wing was unusual and different from all other 109s - both before and after - in its use of a single sheet of metal ie no panel lines for almost all the wing; I do not think the plans have this correct.

Different engines and different propellers are covered. I like the fact that the book actually gives you serial numbers of the later, and illustrates the differences side by side; these are subtle and not often visible in period photos if the angle is not kind or clarity lacking. However as far as I can tell they miss the point that propellers were directly related to engine type, which is quite an important characteristic when studying the Luftwaffe. They are also rather ambiguous in the treatment of the Trop aircraft; those far more knowledgeable than me assert that there were no F-2 Trops - the supercharger intake of these aircraft was such that it could not take the attachment of tropical filter. And whilst they do seem to cover the use of external braces at the tail well, no mention of the two types of seats used that I could see is disappointing. For those interested in one-offs and experimental aircraft, there are some nice pictures of Galland's two upgraded Friedrichs, as well as an airframe fitted with underwing rocket packs (not WGr 21s in case you thought you knew about these).

The first section takes us to page 52; the second comprises the colour profiles - some thirty or so. There are a number of upper and lower elevations included which is always nice. Time does not permit me to examine the accuracy of these renditions, but as always, I advise caution when choosing to model from profiles, as even the best make mistakes.

The final section is entitled Detail Photos and begins on page 78. It provides 45 pages of detailed information on pretty much all aspects of the airframe, through colour and black and white photos, technical diagrams and some CG / 3D renderings. The modern colour pics are all walkarounds of the F-4z at the Canadian Museum in Ottawa (WNr 10132). The problem here is that although the book acknowledges parts have also been used from another airframe (WNr26129), they do not say what variant this other plane was, or more importantly what parts have been used. I am almost as suspicious of museum pics as I am of colour profiles, if detailed provenance is not given. Many of the technical diagrams are taken from the original manual, complete with scribblings in German. These are complemented by period photos both of 109s in the field, and from images in flying manuals etc.

Conclusion

I am inclined to be a little more favourable to this book than the recent Kagero Monograph on the Friedrich, perhaps because it has less pretensions, and is a lot easier to read; even though I think some of the technical information is similarly 'foggy'. At £15.99 for the MMP title, there is probably more bang for your buck in the Kagero book. Should Valiant Wings bring out a title on the Friedrich - as they have for the Emil - that would be the book I would go for in a heartbeat.

MMP's handy, informative Messerschmitt Bf 109F – part of the publisher's popular Yellow Series – traverses the total tale in 128 pithy pages.

After background notes ondesign and development, contents course through variants, production and modifications. Text next turns to research programs and specifications. I especially enjoyed information on the aircraft's link to Me 209 and Me 309 programs.